Is That a Light at the End of the Tunnel?

Posted by Cynical Sarah on April 3, 2007

Congress is on the verge of approving a bill that will give President Bush another $100 billion for the war in Iraq, but it has one very important string attached. As the House and Senate hammer out differences in the bill before sending it up to the President, it is expected to contain a deadline for pulling out troops and putting an end to the war.

Of course, Bush has already said he would veto anything that sets a date for pulling out of a Iraq, but perhaps that $100 billion will be more important to him than the possible 2008 end to a war.

I think the issue has become sort of a matter of pride for President Bush. He jumped into the deep end of the pool and figured out that he couldn’t swim as well as he thought he could. Now that he’s getting the hang of it, he doesn’t want to just give up and have to tell the world he really couldn’t swim.

Giving in to a deadline would be admitting he made a mistake and misjudged how the Iraqis would react to being “freed” from Saddam’s rule. For a pseudo-Texan with a whole lot of family pride riding on this presidency, it must be hard to admit even to himself that he needs help in dealing with the Iraq situation and finding an end to the war.

Perhaps, like a spoiled child, what he needs is a little structure. If Congress is able to impose a deadline for the removal of troops, either with this new budget or in some other way if he vetoes it, maybe the structure will force him to formulate a better plan of action.

Instead of leaving everything open ended so we can finish what we started, Bush will have to finish what we started by that date. He, and his many, many, many advisors, will sit down and figure out a plan and a timeline and a schedule to try to work with to bring about their desired end to the war.

Nobody wants the United States to lose face over this. (In America that is. I’m sure there’s a whole world full of countries out there now just waiting to point and laugh. Some of them aren’t even waiting.) We all want a resolution to this mess that will benefit everyone and not seem like five wasted years battling a tyrant and then terrorists for a nation that appears to have not really wanted our help.

The Democratic Congress, even if it looks rebellious and anti-Bush, want that too; they just want it to happen by a certain time, rather than continuing to string it out without a real plan for an end. They’re also doing their jobs of representing what the American people want, and I think we’ve made it as clear as we can that we want to see our troops back on U.S. soil as soon as possible.

While Bush has remained stubborn on the subject, Congress is finally speaking up for the people and saying “You can no longer use your scare tactics to keep us agreeing to everything you want to do.”

We’ve already let him use 9/11 too long to set up unnecessary government agencies such as Homeland Security rather than trying to fix what’s wrong with the FBI and CIA whose job it is to protect our nation. Then there’s also the invasions into our privacy and our rights, and the rights of prisoners during our War on Terrorism.

It’s time to take a stand and start setting things right before it goes on so long that we feel we can’t go back again. Setting a deadline to get troops home again is a beginning. It’s a bold act of defiance by Congress, but something that is completely within their power to do as representatives of the people of this nation.

Perhaps one of Bush’s advisors should let him know that if Congress does set a date in 2008, and Bush chooses to veto it, he is opening himself up to even more criticism and anger from the American people. That action would basically tell the people that he doesn’t care what they think and what they want, that he’s going to do things his way, and his way only.

Working with the deadline could actually be good for Bush. Maybe he’s one of those people that works better under pressure. Having a deadline could help him come up with better ideas and a plan that works within the necessary timeframe to meet the deadline. Or perhaps one of his advisors will come up with a brilliant idea.

Anything that stimulates a better plan and the possibility of seeing the end to this war in a positive way can’t be a bad thing.

- Sarah L. Polson

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